The New Goddess
by Yumeji Majoko
Summary: Yggdrasil indicates that there is another goddess on Earth, but everything else says otherwise. What does this mean?
1. Chapter 1

Part 1 – Another one?

The early morning sun peeked out from behind one of many fluffy white clouds dotting the blue sky, eager to peacefully wake the people below. Birds perched on rooftops and sung their songs cheerfully. One could not imagine a more perfect start to the day. That is, unless you lived at the Morisato residence. Already, someone was up, but not because of birds or sunshine. As soon as she heard the phone ringing, she could sense that it wasn't good news waiting on the other end.

"What! Almighty One..what are you saying! I don't under..sigh Very well." Belldandy hung up the phone looking slightly confused, but not disappointed. She really didn't quite know how to feel. She could barely grasp what she had just heard. As her thoughts were still running rampant, Keiichi came crashing through the wall and landed on the floor next to her.

"K..KEIICHI! What happened?" She ran over and held his head in her lap, "Ugh...U..Urd...S..Skuld..fight..." Belldandy shook her head, "Honestly..every day with those two. Stay here Keiichi, I'll be right back." As she left she planted a kiss on his forehead, which worked wonders in alleviating his pain. Belldandy walked into the next room, or what had been a room a few moments ago, and dodged a flying Skuld-bomb followed by some stray lightning.

"You little…! I spent weeks working to perfect that potion! Hahaha! You've done it now! You puny second class goddess! Behold the power of Urd!"

Skuld threw two more bombs, "Last time I checked YOU were a second class goddess! And I only broke your potion vial because you keep insulting my ingenious inventions! You even hurt poor Banpei! Besides, that potion would only have made things worse I'm sure. Tell me, have your potions ever done anything helpful?"

Belldandy was getting quite angry at this moment, although quite angry by her standards meant she went from super kind, to only kind. "Urd! Skuld! Honestly! Do you two have to fight every day? You are sisters. And besides, you hurt Keiichi. Stop this quarreling and come have some cake and tea."

Skuld hung her head, "Sorry sis." Belldandy smiled, "It's ok Skuld. Come quickly now, I need to tell you all something as well."

Urd was soon left in the room alone, still holding her fist up. She let some more power go in frustration and blew up the next room over. "I feel SO much better now!" Urd smiled and went to join the others.

Soon, everyone was around the table enjoying Belldandy's cooking. As they were finishing, Belldandy stood and let out a deep breath before relaying the basics of her earlier phone conversation.

"I am sorry to interrupt, but I have a matter of the utmost importance to discuss with you all. This comes directly from the Almighty One."

Urd spit out her tea and snapped her head up, her eyes wide open in an expression of abject horror. Keiichi and Skuld both cast accusatory stares in her direction. "I SWEAR he has it wrong! They can't take away my license again! I'm gonna be so bored!"

Skuld sighed, "Figures. Sis if you only learned maybe you wouldn't have a limited license now would you?" Keiichi smartly kept his thoughts to himself.

Before Urd tested her powers on Skuld, Belldandy interrupted, "No no! This has nothing to do with that at all! This concerns everyone here, in a way even you Keiichi, so please listen." The sound of silence filled the air, the curiosity level in the room peaked.

Belldandy gathered her thoughts and continued in a slightly shaky voice, "The Almighty One brought to my attention that there is a problem with the Yggdrasil system. It keeps insisting that there is another goddess here on Earth, and this is causing it to crash, as you might imagine. This of course explains why our powers have been so erratic and unreliable lately. The scans of both the system for problems, and of the Earth for another goddess, do not reveal anything, yet Yggdrasil will not yield on this point. Its very core is at risk if this apparent contradiction is allowed to continue. Never has Yggdrasil been wrong since it began running. All of the evidence has led the Almighty One to the only conclusion he could reasonably draw. He believes the _spirit_ of a goddess lies in a human here on Earth. This means that the human is normal enough, as far as the body goes, but the soul is that of a goddess."

"As Yggdrasil is not currently equipped to scan the human population and sort goddess soul from human, this would explain the apparent absence of this phantom goddess. This is a cause of great concern and has become top priority in heaven. This error can shut down the entire system forever unless it is resolved. Not to mention the possibility of incredible inner torment within this individual. The Almighty One did not give me the specifics of how and why, so I can not tell you more than that. The only way to resolve this is to find the human, and release the goddess inside. And if this happens, she is to live with all of us and we, Urd, Skuld, and myself, are to become her mentors. She will be another sister of ours. Even Keiichi can help, although not officially, but his kind heart will surely be of benefit to a new goddess. Keiichi, I hope this is all right for you. I sometimes think I only bring you trouble."

Keiichi immediately responded, "Not at all! Belldandy, everything we have gone through, bad and good, I would never take any of it back no matter what!" Belldandy flew into his arms, "Oh Keiichi!"

She got a little under 3 seconds of squeeze time until Skuld pried them apart, "That's waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy too close! Back..back..there! Now that's acceptable!" Keiichi and Belldandy let out a mutual sigh.

Urd scratched her head, "So..we're supposed to sort through all of the women of the world somehow and find a goddess, with nothing to help us and no instructions whatsoever?"

Belldandy smiled, "Oh no..we have to include all the men too! This soul can be in any _absolutely any_ human body according to the Almighty One. Young and old, male and female, we can't rule out anyone or we may overlook her. So we just have to work hard and keep our hopes up!" Everyone starred with opened mouths at Belldandy, who was still smiling.

Skuld then brightened considerably, "Don't worry! I'll have a solution in no time!" She ran off to her work space/bedroom, Urd went to get some sake, mentioning that it helped her think, and Keiichi sat in the same spot praying that Skuld's inevitable invention would be safe.

Belldandy, on the other hand, had something on her mind that she couldn't shake. She wandered off into the forest behind their house and sat on a tree stump. A bird alighted on her shoulder and she gently stroked its head with her fingers. She had sensed something in the Almighty's voice. Something that she hadn't heard for a long time. Only once before, in fact, when she had been very young. It was sadness. Grief. He knew something about this goddess that he wasn't telling them. Could it be the love of a father for a lost daughter? Or was it something more?

"Look at it! Isn't it beautiful? Skuld's own Mr. Soul Finder (Version 2.5)! Ah! What a sleak design, such wonderful curves, the way the sun shines off the outside, the lovingly applied bolts.."

Keiichi sighed, "Ok, enough already. The real question is, does this..um..thing work?"

Skuld gave Keiichi the evil eye, "Of course! I'm a genius! Prepare yourselves..SWITC ...OWWW! Urd! What was that for!"

Urd sat perched in a tree and tossed some more acorns to the ground, "Aren't you going to tell us what this does first?"

Skuld scowled, "I was going to! After it started, but since you insist. Mr. Soul Finder here sends a signal into space that relays off of any and all available satellites. It then uses their combined range to scan the entire world's population for signs of a goddess soul. How it does that is my little secret although I CAN tell you that I have tapped into Yggdrasil's resources to accomplish this..but anyway, the results are displayed on this monitor with pinpoint accuracy, plus or minus a few feet. So, without further ado..SWITCH ON!" Skuld hit the machine's switch, which only served to short out the power in Keiichi's house.

Urd sighed, "Ok, stand back! If it's power you want…" Urd began to chant and everyone backed far far away, as more of a habit than anything else. Lightning shot out from the sky and struck the machine, causing numbers to suddenly start appearing on the screen.

Keiichi yelled, "It's working! Look! Hey, wha…AHHH! There are three goddess signals right around here! They must be behind the house or something. Imagine the luck!" Urd and Skuld collapsed as Belldandy tapped Keiichi lightly on the shoulder, "Um..Keiichi dear. My sisters and I are goddesses you know."

Keiichi slumped over while Skuld got up and resumed studying the screen. "Okay! Mr. Soul Finder has finished the scan, and thanks to my brilliant inventing abilities, it only took a few minutes to search the entire world. We've got 4 options here on Earth. Us three," Everyone looked at Keiichi who turned red, "And a 4th…"


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2**

Little Lost Soul 1 - Origins

Everyone immediately became serious. "So basically, if Skuld's invention isn't just badly built, then there IS another goddess on earth…in a human body?" Urd puzzled over this while Belldandy and Keiichi held Skuld back from attacking Urd for the insult to her mechanical genius.

Belldandy looked closely at the screen, "It seems as if this signal is coming from the other side of the world, oh my! Skuld, dear, your invention certainly is powerful!"

Skuld beamed at her big sister's comment, "Yes, yes. As you can see, a very faint signal is coming from here, now we just have to go and retrieve this individu..URD! Be useful and answer the phone!"

Urd sighed and went to get the phone while the others discussed a few possible retrieval strategies, not wanting to simply jump in and scare or upset the person. Urd came back and shrugged, "Well that was the Almighty One. He has traced the signal from Skuld's machine to the individual. He said to leave it to him, whatever that means."

Suddenly, there was a small noise, followed by the sound of yelling. Keiichi looked up to see a person falling from the sky right above him. Needless to say, Keiichi broke the person's fall to the disappointment of Belldandy. Urd was somewhat disappointed as well, but for different reasons. "Hmm, that was a lot less grand than I would have thought. Too bad."

It turned out, to the surprise of everyone but Belldandy, that the mystery person was a 20-something young woman. The way this individual had been talked about, everyone had been expecting to see a child. While Belldandy was once again explaining that the age of the human body didn't make any difference, Skuld made quadruple checks with her machine and beyond any doubt, her soul was that of a goddess. Needless to say, she was somewhat confused as to why she was suddenly on the other side of the world in the company of such a strange group. It didn't help much that the poor girl was being bombarded with questions from equally confused Urd and Skuld.

Belldandy was trying to get them to stop while Keiichi was sulking in the corner since he didn't understand English that well. Belldandy eventually managed to shoo her two sisters away and got the newcomer to herself. Soon, Belldandy came over to Keiichi looking rather upset.

"Ke...Keiichi, I just thought you might like to know what is going on." Belldandy looked back at the girl for a moment and met Keiichi's gaze looking even sadder than moments before. "B...but truthfully I really wanted to leave our young goddess alone for a while since she is upset and prying questions only make things worse."

Keiichi looked back and forth between Belldandy and the rather shaken newcomer. "Young! She has to be in her 20s! I mean she's not old, but she's certainly not a child! I still don't understand what you are trying to tell me!"

Belldandy looked to be on the verge of tears as she replied, "Keiichi, please try to open your mind and let go of any human conceptions of age and time. I will try to explain this to you with an analogy. Yes, she is a child. The body you see before you is not who this person is. It is merely the shell for the soul in this case. You and every other human on Earth are linked with your bodies. She is a goddess and thus isn't compatible with her body. She is rejecting it, in a way like certain human recipients of organs transplants do. The difference is that organ transplant rejections are rejections _by_ the body, causing physical side effects. Her rejection, on the other hand is a rejection _of _the body by her goddess soul, causing not physical side effects, but mental ones.

She was imprisoned within, whether by some horrible accident or something more sinister, I don't know. That does not change the fact that she is experiencing mental anguish. She knows this, but can't describe the feeling. She hurts all the time. She often feels alone. She has even considered….e…ending her li…li…." Belldandy broke into tears and Keiichi ran up and hugged her. "I…I'm sorry Keiichi. But that poor little thing has never even tasted true happiness. Her soul has not had a chance to mature, and thus she is still a child although her shell has aged past her. I can see it in her eyes."

She suddenly broke from Keiichi's grasp and ran over to the girl. She held her, saying in English, "It will be all right, sweetheart. Open yourself to me. Please little one?" Oddly, it seemed to Keiichi like Belldandy was a big sister to this person in the way they both looked and acted, though they had never met before. Tears flowed out of her eyes, which said more than words ever could. Belldandy stayed there with her for a while, the other 2 goddesses saying nothing since they knew what Belldandy knew. She gripped Belldandy's dress tightly and cried into her shoulder like a child might.

"She's reaching out to her soul," said Urd as she and Skuld walked over to Keiichi. "She is talking with the true goddess inside. I can't believe that such a mistake was made, and this soul was so wrongly placed. This is terrible. And I don't even know how we are supposed to extract a soul. I have a feeling we are not being told everything. I suppose the Almighty has his reasons...but I can't even understand how the soul of a goddess ends up in a human body here on Earth. It just doesn't make sense!" Skuld suddenly bolted for the house with an unusual desire to be the one who got to the ringing phone first. Of course, it wasn't really a mystery to anyone who would be on the other end.

"He….He said that her name is Kylie, our sister. He said it was all his fault, I couldn't understand what he was trying to tell me…something about going to show her to her two older sisters but losing her…I couldn't follow it…" Skuld looked quite shaken. She had never heard the Almighty One sound that way. Unhinged…upset. The others were gathered around her, listening with concerned looks on their faces.

Urd turned towards Belldandy and looked at the trapped goddess sitting close to her. Her face was red from crying, and she was still sniffling and clutching onto Belldandy. "Kylie, eh? That seems like a distinctly human name, doesn't it? You don't think her mother….GAH! This just gets weirder by the minute. But setting all that aside, you mentioned he said 'her two older sisters'. I assume that would mean she'd have been born after Bell and I since he referred to all of us as her sisters when Belldandy first spoke to him. Wouldn't we have heard something about it? That she has a name means that her existence was known. This wasn't a mistake…something happened."

The group became silent, each lost in their own thoughts, until the phone rang once again. Urd took it and came back quickly. "We are to go up to heaven and take Kylie with us…he may be able to release her with our help, but only there. Keiichi, I'm sorry but you must remain here, as you probably already knew. Let's go. She shouldn't suffer any longer than she already has." The sisters nodded and were soon gone. Keiichi sat on the grass and starred up into the sky, wondering what was going on.

The Almighty One studied the concerned faces of the three sisters before starting, "I know you are eager to help Kylie, but you three must be made aware of the situation before we can go forward. I am sorry for my earlier attempt at an explanation. This has been a constant source of pain for me ever since my daughter was taken away…punishment for my foolishness.

When Kylie was born, the heavens sang. She was a pure hearted, sweet, loving, gentle, caring, perfect little goddess…taking after her sisters. What is more, she was, and still is, the only half human goddess ever born." Urd gasped, "So then I was right. Kylie has a human name because her mother was human!" The Almighty One nodded, "Yes, Urd. Kylie's mother, Amelia, was…unusual for a human. Her beauty was beyond compare and her mind was razor sharp. There were very few who could best her in anything. Yet, she did not often engage in competition, even if pressed by her peers. She loved being around others and was always cheerful and positive. Many men became enamored of her, but she politely declined every invitation for a date she received. She seemed to be waiting for someone…

When she was alone, however, she toiled with a theory of hers that had been swirling around in her head since she was in middle school. She wanted to find Heaven. She believed that heavenly beings visited Earth from time to time, although they were never detected. Leaning on this belief, Amelia next concluded that there must be portals between Earth and Heaven in order for travel to be allowed. She knew in her heart that there was a way into Heaven, even if it was normally closed to humans. She thus became a scholar of any and all books or writings dealing with Heaven in her quest for an entrance. Even more confusing was how casual she was about it. It was more of a hobby than an obsession, which made the amount of information she compiled on the subject that much more impressive. She was right in certain respects, but as you all know, she had no chance of entering heaven, no matter how hard and long she tried.

In order to pass between Heaven and Earth, you must have heavenly blood inside of you to interact with the Yggdrasil system and create a portal. Humans can not do this and without Yggdrasil, even gods and goddesses can not, as you three have experienced firsthand.

Her unusual pastime did, however, get the attention of Heaven, even if she did not know it at first. I was informed of Amelia when she was still a child, simply because she was a curiosity, but because of this, I began watching her and the strangest and most unexpected thing happened. As the years went by and she grew up, I began to care deeply for her in a way I never thought possible. At first, I steeled myself against this new feeling and vowed never to act on it. Despite this vow, I could not stop watching her. Then, one day the worst possible thing happened. She was marked for death.

Her time was up and I knew it. As her friend carelessly ran out into the street after an apple that fell from her shopping bag, things seemed to move in slow motion. Amelia saw the car coming and dropped her own bag. She frantically bolted towards her friend, arms outstretched to push her out of harms way. At the last possible moment I could bear it no longer and I fell to Earth as fast as I could, grabbing her just before the car hit her and throwing her towards her friend, whom Amelia had already saved. I was quick and thought I got away unseen, yet I could tell by the look in Amelia's eyes afterwards that she had caught a glimpse of me, which should have been impossible for a human. I had to meet her, and so one night, when she was alone, I visited her. She smiled when she saw me and said simply, "You've been watching me for quite a while haven't you? I knew you'd reveal yourself one day."

The day Amelia gave birth she was taken to Heaven. Since the baby inside of her carried the blood of the Heavens, she was able to pass through the portal she had looked most of her life for. She was so happy, and yet she knew what I did without having to be told. She did not have long to live. Sadly, the strain of carrying and giving birth to a goddess was too much for her human body. She just wanted to live long enough to hold her child.

She did, but she died only moments after seeing her daughter for the first time. She kissed her daughter's forehead and named her Kylie with her last breath. As I held my third daughter for the first time, I had conflicting emotions. Joy and grief, all mixed together into one single moment.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

Little Lost Soul 2 – The Rescue or Finder's Keeper's

I could sense Kylie's power mere moments after she was born. Far from diminishing her potential, her human half made her even more powerful, an effect even I could not have imagined. I was ready to show her to you both, but on my way, I was stopped by the Demon King."

All three sisters gasped in unison, "The Demon King? But that's impossible! He could never enter heaven!"

The Almighty One lowered his head, "Normally, you'd be right. But…long ago when I was young, brash, and foolish I made a horrible mistake. I thought I could take the demons head on and defeat them once and for all. I challenged their king to a series of long and complicated battles, events, feats of strength and intellect, and quests. Our struggle lasted for years, so I shan't go into the details. It went back and forth, but in the end, I was too young, inexperienced, and stubborn, and I lost.

Our pact was bound with the magics of both realms and thus couldn't be broken by either side. That's what allowed him entrance into heaven that day. He had come to collect on what was due to him. He had promised to cause me pain if he won, and he had chosen to use my newborn child to do this. No words were spoken, as we both knew why he was there, even after so much time had passed. It was over in a second. I was powerless to stop him as he grabbed Kylie from my arms and disappeared back into his own realm again where I could not follow.

An image then appeared in my mind of my poor little daughter in the center of a demonic circle. She was screaming, holding her arms out…looking for a loving person to comfort her. The demon king laughed and spoke, "Now witness as your daughter's soul is imprisoned! The beginning of a lifetime of constant torture!" He began chanting and then, Kylie vanished. Then the image left my mind, the pact fulfilled and the link broken.

It felt like the life had been sucked out of me. It has been with me since that day and I was never able to find out what had happened to her…until today. A new goddess suddenly appeared on Yggdrasil's monitor out of nowhere. At first, I thought it was a glitch…but then I listened to my heart…and it told me that it was Kylie. Thanks to Skuld's skill with inventing, I was able to find her trapped in the body of a mortal. The only reason I can think of is that the Demon King's power has weakened…probably temporarily.

It is written that every few thousand years, his power weakens for a day or so while he must rest and recharge his evil powers. This, combined with Kylie's tremendous energy, could explain her sudden appearance. Perhaps he did not realize that this would affect his curse…but it did and I fear we do not have much more time. We may have a chance of freeing Kylie while his powers are in their current state, but if they return, all hope is lost. We must prepare now!"

Everyone immediately sprung into action. The preparation had to be perfect and had to be as soon as possible. An enormous magic circle was meticulously constructed in the center plaza, a place of tremendous power. A group of lesser gods and goddesses, standing hand-in-hand, created a second circle around the magic circle. The center of the magic circle contained a triangle, with one of the three sisters standing on each end. The almighty one nodded. All was ready. He began a chant…an ancient spell taking the power of hundreds of gods and goddesses to pull off. The outer circle of gods and goddesses all began to chant a separate verse in unison. Then the three sisters each entered into the spell, one at a time. They represented the closest link to Kylie, being her sisters, and were put closest to her to draw her out.

In the center was the young, frightened goddess, her true soul now in total control of the body ever since Belldandy reached out to her. As the magic circle began to glow around her, she started to cry and hold out her arms towards Belldandy. Not able to move from her spot or interrupt her chanting, she could only give Kylie a reassuring and comforting look to calm her. Suddenly, Kylie began to raise into the air. Nothing more happened for a while, Kylie floating and glowing over the circle center, but then she let out an ear-splitting scream.

The almighty one sent his thoughts to the sisters, "The demon king's magic is working against our magic, and the effect is tearing her apart as if she were being pulled by each arm in separate directions. This is causing her pain….I so desperately want to stop, but I can't, or we may never get another chance. We must try to rip her spirit from the grasp of the demon king's magic…it is weakened, but still not weak by any means…please, my daughters, try harder…think of your sister and concentrate with all your might!"

They all did as they were told and Kylie began to scream louder. They could tell, however, that ever so slowly, the demon king was losing his grip. Then, when they could almost bear poor Kylie's screams no longer, there was a flash of light, temporarily blinding everyone. The chanting and the screams stopped all at once and the silence was deafening.

After the light went back to normal, the almighty one, the sisters, and everyone else looked hopefully towards the center. What they saw caused some smiles, giggles, cheers, and general happiness. A small girl, of no more than 6, stood in a huge pile of clothes with a very confused look on her face.

The girl spoke up in a small voice, "U….um…w….what happened..?" Immediately after she said this, she was scooped up off the ground by Belldandy, who then proceeded to hug her tight and kiss her over and over.


End file.
